Castro Valley’s Growing Asian Food Scene - My Bay Area | Did You Eat Yet?
Вставка
- Опубліковано 4 жов 2024
- I'm Victor, and I was born and raised throughout Oakland and the Bay Area. In Collection Three: “People I've Met", we come back to the Bay to highlight some people that I've met throughout life, as well as through running this series so far. We dig more into the stories about where they're from, what they do, and explore some of the best food the Bay Area has to offer together.
In this episode, we explore Castro Valley, a place I call home. We originally moved to Castro Valley in the early 2000s, and the town has changed so much, including all of its restaurants and small businesses. There's been an increase in the amount of Asian restaurants and businesses opening up in Castro Valley, and in this video, we're gonna dive into some of these spots, while talking to many local business owners to share their stories.
Spots Highlighted:
• Pho Auntie 7
• Tancho Japanese Restaurant
• Garden Cafe
• Always Yours Bakery Cafe
• Lake Chabot Public Market
• Mama Cho's
• Milk & Cookie Bar
More notable Asian spots around CV:
• 88 Bao Bao
• Phulkari
• Top Thai
• Pho Play
• Dampa
• Mei Mei Chinese Market
• iTea
New episodes coming soon.
Please like and subscribe to our channel for more!
Links:
Instagram: / hididyoueatyet
Merch: hididyoueatyet...
Special thanks to:
Tyler Coolidge for the episode music (IG: www.instagram....)
Megan for the Did You Eat Yet? design (IG: @ / mighty.moody )
And everyone who helped me out with shooting and producing and eating with me!
Hayward resident here! I love that you take the time to highlight places that feel ordinary and often overlooked.
I never really felt compelled to post comments on UA-cam but this vid really hit a soft spot. I was actually born/raised in the City, but lived off Stanton from 2011-2021. Long story short I got to experience a lot of changes to the CV food scene during that period, and so proud that it blossomed so immensely. I'll always miss a mama from Val's, any sandwich on dutch crunch from Lucca's, the best Korean burrito outside of LA from Mama Cho's, donuts for Rudy's, gyros from Rumi, etc etc
Thanks for watching! All amazing options we have in our small town.
@@HiDidYouEatYet right when I moved out of CV the Marketplace opened. can't forget Southern Comfort Kitchen and i-Tea boba were in the regular rotation. very sad about Lake Chabot Public Market though, really hope they recover and comeback stronger
I think Southern Comfort Kitchen and Pampas Cafe also deserve some love. CV is definitely starting come up food wise!
Agreed, love those spots! This episode highlighted some of the Asian spots but there’s so many classics and newer spots that are interesting. The new bakery Bake it Up next to Tancho is really good too
Rip lake Chabot market 😢
Yeah I still can’t believe it burned 😢
No way
Castro Valley is a very charming small town. Great schools and tight community. Don't forget Chicken on Fire and the Panang short Rib from Top Thai.
Been going to Chicken on fire since they were in Hayward, now they’re around the corner from me!
I live in lower hill area in Oakland and just realized how close Castro valley to us. So jealous when I see that hk cafe opened earlier this year. Def will spend some time to explore in the near future.
We lived in Castro Valley for 8 years and while we loved the small town, lamented the lack of good Asian food. We were always traveling to Oakland or Fremont or Dublin to eat. Now that we moved away the food scene improved! We did visit the food hall once driving by there, very sorry to hear it burned down. That’s a shame.
Proud of nick little sister.
Omg I contributed to Natalie’s kickstarter campaign!! Do dope to see her thriving! Thank u for featuring Castro valley! I live in newark so this gives me many spots to try !
Thanks for watching!
There are thankfully a lot of really great restaurants near Castro Valley, Sons of Liberty and Fieldwork Brewing in San Leandro. Casa Del Toro and Aqua e Farina in Hayward. Very excited for Slice House because idk how any of the chain pizza places stay in business. I miss Sazio’s from way back. I’ve tried a few of the newer spots but they seem more along the chain/fast food model. So we cook at home and save going out for when we are somewhere with good options.
Tasty Szechuan and Sister House are always go tos for us in Hayward too. Clandestina Cocina is also a really really good new Cuban pop up at the E14 food hall right now that just opened up. Right next to us in CV!
Thank you so much for this video! I'm also a Castro Valley local and love how much this place has progressed in recent years in terms of food options.
Thanks for watching!
I grew up in Tracy in the 70s/80s wow Mason defined Tracy for me. Mom and I use to go to Oakland and Berkeley on the weekends and get our vegetables at the Asian farmers market on Sunday under the I 5 freeway in Stockton. I would come back to school and on a Monday and I could not relate to anyone. progress is slow. I live in Stockton, big Filipino and Mexican community but no good BBQ. The best mom and pop for Filipino/ Mexican/Cambodian. Still, I almost fainted when Costo started selling Hinode 2 years ago. Love what you're doing!
Thanks for watching! Appreciate the comment and hearing your story
We’ve lived in CV for almost 22 years. Our daughter went to Proctor, Creekside, and CVHS. We moved here from Berkeley for the great schools and quiet life. But yes, having a white mom and a Chinese American dad, it had its challenges. The food scene? What food scene? 😂 We’re so excited every time we get a new Asian inspired food spot open. Who cares what the haters say…bring more!!!!! 😊 Great episode. Thank u for featuring our “little” town. ❤
Really appreciate you sharing this video … I was born in Castro Valley and although I haven’t lived there since the 90s I still have family there. But we’d always struggled with food options … this thriving Asian food scene is really beautiful to see. Because growing up it was McDonald’s or Lyon’s (later Baker’s Square) with grandpa, that’s about it.
Thanks for watching! There’s a ton of new stuff coming too that I’m super excited about. There’s a new bakery called Bake it Up that makes delicious Middle Eastern inspired pastries. And there’s a Puerto Rican spot called La Perla coming to the CV Marketplace soon too that’s originally from Oakland. Plus there’s a new dim sum banquet hall, hot pot, and more Vietnamese options coming too. Really exciting to see
My experience with Castro Valley was always centered around Golden Tee! Still the best minigolf in the Bay Area. Gonna have to try out some of these places for after the next time I get some putts in!
That mini golf will always be iconic in CV lol
This is a great video and I like that really highlights the fact that all these new business that are coming into Castro Valley are operated by members of the community that just want Castro Valley to be better. Despite the very vocal members of the community that seem to reject anything that isn't burgers and pizza, Castro Valley has a bright future. I do have one critique on your videos. Adding the baked in captions seems well meaning but I believe it is distracting from the overall accessibility of the video. I would suggest focusing on adding captions through UA-cam own closed captioning / subtitle tools. The current titles are too small to be of any benefit and overlap where UA-cams own auto generation cations would appear.
Appreciate the feedback! Will consider that moving forward if people actually want the captions or not since it adds a ton of extra work for me to add them in too
why didn’t i discover you sooner? i’m binging your channel, can’t get enough of your content!!! ❤
@@elleandish Thanks for watching! Appreciate it
Love the longer form video!❤Hope this is a sign of things to come! 🤠
Trying to get more interviews from other people in the community into videos so it’s definitely making them longer! Appreciate it for noticing
Thank you for creating this video. I moved to Castro Valley from Hayward in 1997 because my parents wanted me to attend school here. It was definitely a culture shock for me going from a heavy Latinx population where mostly everyone spoke Spanish to a predominantly white area. I graduated CVHS class of '06 and booked it to SF where I stayed for 10 years. I moved back to CV during the pandemic and have been pleasantly surprised by all the delicious restaurants near me. I'm saddened about the Lake Chabot Market place as I had just discovered the burritos at Mama Cho's. I hope I can have one again in the future!
Glad you're able to find this video, thanks for watching!
One more thing, I had been wondering what happened to the lake Chabot public market! Than you for updating us
Crazy how fast CV has grown! Been here for almost ten years and recently found out randomly some of my former coworkers had moved to CV in the last couple of years!
Definitely has been a popular spot to move to over the last few years
Great Episode! CV is like a little secret city, you will miss it if you don’t exit 580. 😊
I live in Castro Valley and love this video very much................
Thanks for watching!
Great videos keep it up. But hope they rebuild lake Chabot market
Thanks for watching, I hope so too
Id go to the public market a lot when i was in the east bay dorms. Had no idea about the fire.
Will definitely have to check these places out, and hopefully those businesses can make a comeback!
Hope so too. Thanks for watching!
Thank you for another great episode! I used to go to the public market a lot. So sad to see what has happened and it may take time but praying from my heart for their comeback. 🙏
Thanks for watching!
Thank you for featuring asian american food scene in the bay area! This is awesome content! keep it up!
Appreciate it! Thanks for watching
Great video! As a long time Castro Valley resident, I love all the food options. My heart goes out to Hans Cho and all the businesses in the Lake Chabot Public Market, and I hope they can recover.
Thanks for watching!
Really enjoyed it. We almost bought a house in Castro Valley. Keep up this good work.
Appreciate it, thanks for watching! Lowkey one of the best places in the Bay to buy a home around 2020-2021 and then prices went insane even before rates went up last year
Wow, I never heard of any of these places. I came to CV about once a month to visit my in-laws, and thought it was not an Asian food town. This changed that view!❤
I don’t think we’re truly there yet, but definitely getting there!
Cool Videos! Nice editing! Enjoyable!
Glad you enjoyed it
Before Toncho, was ISushi also awesome
Bruh Im also from CV and recognize these spots even if I haven't tried them because i wasn't sure which was good. I'll check them out now though for sure!
So sad that place burned down. Mama Cho’s is legit!!
Hopefully they can rebuild!
I like going to Castro valley for dessert when I’m at my friends place in
Hayward. I’ve been wanting to try Tancho for a while now. Glad you featured it!
There’s so much boba and other dessert options here now over the last few years
@@HiDidYouEatYetLooking forward to Boba Bliss!
Once enough food stores/restaurants/cafes' opened, a monthly Fri/Sat night street market with day food/activity tours might be the way to go in establishing a more positive lasting impression in out-of-towners.
Olive and Finn started to host monthly night markets outside of their shop on the Blvd this summer and it’s been great to see already. Love seeing what the small businesses in town are trying to do to get people active out here downtown
@@HiDidYouEatYet Another idea is for the main street eateries to agree to a month long trial of cheap-a*** Tuesday nights with min 30% off total bill and waived tips. That coupled with half priced movie tix on the same nights have worked wonders to get the locals to come support local businesses in my neck of the woods.
East Bay resident here! We ate at Pho Auntie 7 around the time you released this video and loved it. We'll have to try some of the other places in your video!
Thanks for watching!
Cool video. Born and raised. Great to see the change.
Thanks for watching!
thanks for this video! i just moved to Castro Valley from San Mateo ( born and raised in the Peninsula/SF) i am spoiled w/ the varieties of food just in down town San Mateo alone, i def miss my go to's and i was hesitant for years to move to the East Bay, but Im glad i did! Castro Valley is def a hidden gem! thanks for showcasing some good eats, i def added to my list of things to try and will make those experiences that much better by hearing their stories and history. keep doing what you doing, much love!
Thanks for watching! Appreciate the kind words
You guys are so cool. Oh and it is so funny cuz we did that move too.
lol thanks for watching!
Great video! I'm from the Peninsula (born and raised). I started exploring Castro Valley around the 2010s when I discovered a boba shop called Cloud 9 Teahouse and started exploring the area around it. Sadly the place doesn't exist anymore but I'm glad a different boba shop took it's place. Although not an Asian place, I would visit Cafe Rumi if I'm ever in the area. It's the only place I know that has Pink Chai. This video makes me want to try the places you recommend. Thank you!
The food at Cafe Rumi is really good too! Used to always order the gyro plate back in the day when there weren’t many mediterranean options in the surrounding area. Thanks for watching!
Back in my HS days, CV Blvd. was the spot for cruising! They need to bring that back! It’s way safer than racing and sideshows!
Reminds me of me and Fairfield lol. First two years of my life in Alameda then moved to Fairfield (small town, fast food). I’m in Oakland now but always think about moving back to Fairfield:)
Haven’t spent much time in Fairfield before! Only would pass it on the way up to Sac
@@HiDidYouEatYet it’s just now getting in some good Asian spots 😆 I had to look up where Castro Valley was so it’s cool to see what they have there. Keep doing your thing! 🙏❤️
As somebody who would bounce between living in Oakland, Chinatown and Castro Valley (and I am definitely not the only person in this situation) you may be the first person to give both of my hometowns a shout out. Just know you have a lot of people sharing your videos in their groups because rarely do we get any representation especially for CV.
Every time I return to CV I am always surprised by how many new restaurants that pop up. We have also noticed that a lot of them do tend to be Asian but we aren't complaining! Good food is good food. It is important to remember not to give a flying shit about what the older NIMBY generation in CV think as well because we haven't forgotten that CV used to be an extremely racist town back in the 1950s (even in the 2000s I could attest to the subtle racism I saw happen to my dark skinned friends) and it is a miracle that it managed to turn their image around.
My goal with these videos is to share some of my experiences and hear from others because I think there’s a lot of other folks who can relate or have also gone through similar experiences and wanna see it being shared. These stories might not be extremely unique or anything, and that’s what makes them interesting imo. Thanks for watching!
That older generation retreated to Nextdoor and other social media for boomers. The past 8 or so years have seen a whole new generation of CV residents that are not as closed off as the one complaining about every boba shop opening up.
My family found Mama Cho’s in 2021 and it became THE spot whenever I wanted bibimbap. Love from across the bridge, hoping you guys can reopen soon ❤❤❤
Hoping they can rebuild again soon! Thanks for watching
Just came across your channel. Not originally from CV but moved here to raise kids. Still in the center of the bay. The New Mexican spot next to the oil changers spot has become my favorite.
Great content and quality production. Hopefully we’ll come across each others paths eating some good food.
What do you think about ghengix?
CV i love you!!!
CVs Finest
So sad about Lake Chabot Public Market =(
Thanks!
Hell yes
What about TeaSo?!?! Amazing mochi pastries to order and Peach Gum Taro tea - can't find it anywhere else!
Shout out to TeaSo! I didn't really highlight any of the boba shops in CV, but there's a ton and they're all doing different things which is nice. Wild because growing up we only had Quickly's for the longest time, and now we have like 5 options
@@HiDidYouEatYet true, we have many fantastic boba places.
Another fantastic video! Will you be getting more merch on your site??? I really want a hoodie 😍
Might restock soon! Which one did you want?
@HiDidYouEatYet I would LOVE the mustard in a size LG, but honestly I would take any one of the hoodies in a Large ✌️
I’m gonna announce a restock next month, look out for it!
@@HiDidYouEatYet RAD ✌️
damn hope the chabot market can rebuild
Hoping so too
Also silver soon has become our go to for Chinese food. S/O Simon
Did you know after Pho Auntie 7 opened, it was listed as one of the top ten new restaurants in the SF Chronicle restaurant review?
Yup, I've seen Soleil Ho cover Pho Auntie/CV a couple times in the past few years too for SF Chron!
Please come visit us at The Chabot Theater! While it's not an asian owned business, alot of us in the management team are filipino american and we serve with high levels of that home grown filipino hospitality!
I’ve been going there since I was in HS haha thanks for watching!
Really sad the Lake Chabot public market burned down, any update if they'll repair and the stores in it will re-open?
Latest update I’ve read is that it’s not gonna be likely to reopen unfortunately :(
Dampa >>>
We pick up sinigang there sometimes when we’re too lazy to make it ourselves, hella happy there’s a Filipino option in town
Skounds delicious
❤❤❤
I just moved my young family to Castro Valley from Hayward, originally from San Jose. I love the influx of new Asian restaurants coming here as it reminds me of home. But I understand the older CV residents aren’t keen to the demographic change that’s happening. Most of my neighbors are white elderly folks who are empty nesters.
A lot of our older neighbors have moved out of town over the last few years to take advantage of the crazy housing prices here, but we’re definitely seeing this shift happen in real time
Hayward was always right next door, so it is not as if POC weren't right there, tbh.
Bro you need an outro my guy!
I lived in Castro Valley from 2004-2022. Eventually asian restaurants and businesses will replace the entire town. It's happening already.
Ok? Community businesses refect the community that lives around them, what’s your point?
@@maxque2841I think the point is that the demographic is changing! The video itself stated such, it use to be “mostly white Americans”! Anytime a place goes through something like this there will be resentment. Can’t be mad at their resentment though! That town has been changing so much within the last couple of years!
mate you are talking about castro valley like its in the middle of nowhere, its kinda just next to oakland lmao.
If you lived here and lived in Oakland you’d understand how fucking different it is lmao foh
@@HiDidYouEatYet I live in Tri-city (Union City) Area mate, its like a 10mins drive.
Did you just move to the Bay Area yesterday mate, there’s no way you actually don’t know the difference between growing up in these different cities and how demographic and political backgrounds in places make things vastly different, even if they’re 15 minutes apart from each other ????
you must be hella new to the bay area lmao if you’re actually from here and grew up here, people literally didn’t know where castro valley was except that it was a bart stop. this was a very common thing mate
@@HiDidYouEatYet I highly doubt there is much of difference from places 15mins apart, like can you tell people apart by just either looking at them or way they speak? Unlike people from different states where this difference is more perceptible.
Great video! I luv living in Castro Valley.
It’s a great place to be right now
I am such a fan of this. Great video! I feel so proud being from cv 🥹
Thanks for watching!